All Units, this is Red Crown
by coincidencless
Summary: As James Heller battles Alex Mercer atop Times Square's Bank, he learns the real enemy has been hidden all along. One shot.


**Disclaimer:I do not own Prototype. If I did, we wouldn't have had that shitty ending of Prototype 2.**

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"WHERE'S MAYA?" came Heller's enraged shout, echoing throughout the darkening skies over Time Square's National Bank. The massive red growth of infection up to the ball that once dropped every year pulsed, and Mercer just stood in that cocky stance, fingers lacing together. Behind him eight Evolved, including that bitch Galloway, stood in a line, fourteen sword-like arms glinting red as their wielders casually flicked them, watching the exchange between their master and their greatest threat.

"Safe, for the moment," came Mercer's sly response.

"You're gonna tell me!" Heller roared, pointing at Mercer. "Either on your own," he paused, letting his arm flicker into his blade, the genetic material for hammerfists just beneath the surface, ready to emerge at a moment's notice. "Or after I skull-fuck you, and drain your memories out the hole!"

Alex wasn't intimidated. "Huh," he said, raising his hands. "Scary." He turned back towards his line of Evolved, walking back and forth infront of them. Vaguely James noted how much deep shit he would be in having to fight eight Evolved _and_ fucking _Alex Mercer_ at the same time. "You just don't get it, do you? I gave you everything, and this is how you come to me?"

He raised a clenched fist. "Can't you understand what I'm doing? Humanity is stagnant. Dying." Galloway made sure to smirk at him. Heller snarled. That bitch died first. Mercer walked behind her, almost as if sensing the animosity between them, and put his hands on her shoulders. "I would give it one body, one mind." He stepped away from Sabrina, pacing back and forth again, large hand motions accommodating his words, like a peacock flaunting its feathers.

_Yeah,_ Heller thought. _A peacock. All show and no go._

"Think about it. No more conflict, no more disease, no more suffering." Mercer raised his hands triumphantly. "Don't you see? I'm giving it a second chance!"

James had enough. While this asshole was busy spouting off melodramatic comic book villain bullshit, Dana and more importantly, Maya, were rotting away in whatever hole this creep had dumped them in. "ENOUGH," he stated, walking forward, blade outstretched. "Of your fucking weird, fucking rambling, SHIT! _GIVE ME MY DAUGHTER!_"

Mercer just shook his head. "No, no I don't think so. I think it's time you gave me something. You see, young Amaya shares your brand of annoyingly resilient DNA."

_That's why he couldn't eat me._

"And when she's ready," Alex continued, walking back so he was surrounded by four Evolved on either side of him. "Your daughter will become the Mother of the New World! So now the only thing standing between me, and Earth's _true_ destiny, is _you_," Mercer finished, turning back to shoot a sun-extinguishing glare at Heller, tentacles crawling across his left arm. He shoved it left, and tentacles ensnared the form of Sabrina Galloway, her skin dissolving into a red mass under their touch.

"Ah! James!" she cried, hopeful that maybe, just maybe, he'd help her out, for old time's sake. The tendrils connecting to her connected to the other three Evolved on Alex's left side, and they all gave the same cries of pain. Alex took his right arm, now also glowing with red biomass, and thrust it right, covering the remaining Evolved with his consumer tendrils.

Heller stepped back, taking in the sight. No way. He had enough trouble killing one Evolved as it was. Was this asshole about to...

His question was answered when Alex let out a triumphant "Ha!", retracting the tendrils, all the Evolved dissolving away and flowing to him. Alex received more biomass than he could compress into his form, and so grew another head over Heller. He glared down at the Sergeant as the last bits of viral matter flowed into him, icy blue eyes flashing and burning red under his hood.

There were only two words Heller needed to describe the situation. He suddenly had his doubts about this. "Holy shit."

Alex Mercer jumped far above him, landing behind James, who wasted no time spinning around to look at him. A massive, curved blade took the place of Mercer's right arm, the fingers on his left hand sharpened to claws. Glowing red-orange biomass cracked his legs, and raced up to his shoulders, spikes and tendrils arcing up his biceps and behind his head like some sort of demented collar, or crown.

"Well, let's get this over with, shall we?" he asked, raising his blade and slashing it through the air with a metallic _shwing._

Heller growled, scraping his own Blade along the ground, kicking up sparks. The two gods dashed at each other, and Heller was the first to attack. He swung his weapon in a massive arc, only for Alex to catch it with his own blade. He swung Heller's weapon down, leaving him wide open for him to slash at, sending him flying back, looking up at the helicopters and flying infected battling.

"I'm using that!"

Heller growled, letting his arms reform themselves into massive hammerfists, feeling Mercer's skill with the blade. He slammed the ground, and grinned when the shockwave impacted Mercer, making him briefly stumble. Alex came at him with a frenzy, swinging forward. Heller got slashed three times before rolling out of the way, Mercer taunting him. "Want me to slow down? I can slow down, if you want."

Heller growled, and slammed his fists into the ground, a series of spikes coming up and stabbing Mercer. The two went at it, slashing and pounding at the other, determined to get a hit in. Mercer's attacks were vicious and lightning-fast, but slowly, Heller saw a weakness. Alex only attacked in short bursts, finishing his attack patterns with a long pause, a pause he could and did exploit.

Mercer ran away after taking another pounding from the hammerfists, and jumped high into the air. He raised his blade, and James didn't even have time to swear before he came down at him with it in a deadly arc. He jumped out of the way, twisting out of the blade's path, feeling a whoosh of air next to his ears. When he landed, he saw Mercer was stuck in the ground, unable to pull his blade out. He took advantage of this, grabbing the hooded figure and attacking mercilessly with boulder-like hands.

He jumped up, ready to slam him again. The attack connected, releasing a shower of biomass and sending Mercer flying back. "STAY STILL!" The victim of the attack got up, not showing discomfort, and resumed his relentless attacks, only to be stopped short by a pounding shockwave, followed by a row of groundspikes.

Heller growled. "That simmered you down, some."

Mercer dashed with impossible speed, speed even Heller couldn't hope to reach, away from another series of spikes. His blade vanished, replaced with claws on both hands. He slammed his hand into the ground, and Heller wondered what was going on. His question was answered when he felt a tiny trill through the ground, and dodged out of the way just before massive groundspikes, red and black, erupted at his location.

"You keep hopping around," he snarled, dodging another wave of groundspikes. "I'm gonna rip your spine outta your mouth!"

Alex stood up, blade reforming. "You really are a very crude, person, aren't you?" The two figures continued their dance of blades and fists, Heller slowly but surely gaining the upper hand. Alex would leap up to slice, Heller would jump over the arc. He's send a series of groundspikes at him, and Heller would roll out of the way. He saw how Mercer's clothes and face were bloodied, covered in the biomass that stained the concrete. Alex Mercer sprinted away, and once again jumped up to slice at Heller, who simply dodged out of the way.

He grabbed Mercer once again, and slammed his hammerfists into him repeatedly. "What? Nothing to say?" he asked, slamming his nemesis back once again. Alex groaned, and got to his knees, staring at Heller.

He raised his blade, red tendrils consuming his form and dissolving the biomass on him, making him look good as new. The blade dissolved, replaced by a two-pronged blade at the end. "Impressive," he admitted. "Now let's see how well you can adapt!"

Heller growled, clenching his hammerfists, then switching them back for the blade.

"Here... catch!" Alex raised his arm up, now clearly a whipfist, and sent a helicopter flying at Heller. His eyes widened, but he jumped over the enormous projectile, letting it explode and disintegrate behind him.

"I'm too fast for you, asshole!" He didn't have time for another taunt as Mercer ran up next to him and slammed the whipfist down on him, flooring him. He groaned, and got up, ducking under a wide sweep and slashing at his foe in expert circles, hacking away with his blade, staining the earth red with viral matter. Alex sent his whipfist flying out, stabbing Heller in the chest. He brought it back and curled it under his side, then smacked James under the head, sending him up, only for the whipfist to slam him back down into the earth.

Alex shook his head, tsking. "When I come at you like that, you should _really_ get outta the way." The two figures once again began their dance of death, sparks flying through the air where their weapons clashed, filled with grunts of exertion from both parties as helicopters and infected birds exploded around them.

Heller scowled as he slashed Mercer again, only for the man responsible for his wife's death to dodge out of the way, sprinting back. He jumped up and pulled his whipfist back, before sending it flying at James. He raised his arm, quickly forming it into a spiked shield the whipfist buried itself in. Alex pulled himself in, unaware of the danger, and was treated to a face full of spiked shield for his troubles. Heller growled as he stabbed his blade into the briefly stunned Mercer...

"Dumb motherfucker!"

... to spin around and slice his neck in a near perfect imitation of his first ever strike against Alex, slitting his throat with his knife.

He smirked at his latest hit, and was impaled with a massive groundspike. He swore, and dodged out of the way of the next, only to raise his shields to block a wide sweep from Alex's whipfist.

"Come on, Heller!" he gloated. "You could be the grandfather of the new world!"

"Now I know you're just trying to make me mad." Alex ran away to dodge another slash, and raised his arm to the sky, grappling a helicopter.

"Time for emergency landing," he said smugly, hurling another chopper at his opponent.

His opponent just jumped out of the way again, too agile for such obvious tricks. "Nice try, dickhead!" He charged at Alex, and tried to grab him by the neck. Alex wasn't having any of that, though. Alex grabbed him by the arm, and slammed him into the ground.

"Faster Heller!" He stomped on James's face, then stomach several times. "_Faster!_" He finished by kicking the downed man away, and sending out his whipfist again. Heller was quick on his feet, though, and raised his spiked shields in time to block the attack and, taking the initiative, slam them against Mercer.

"Not long now, Lexie." Truth be told, he was hurting. Mercer's attacks were fierce, and while he was quick enough to avoid most and inflict many more, the ones that caught him hurt like a strike from a damn Goliath. But... he had to be hurting him, right?

The battle continued to rage, interrupted only by the occasional volley of groundspikes from either party, until Mercer jumped up again and sent his whipfist at Heller, who, caught by surprise, had the bladed weapon catch in his chest. Mercer used this to pull himself in quickly, using Heller as a surfboard, leaving biomass where he skidded before kicking him out from under him.

Alex smirked when James looked back at him from the railing he'd been kicked against. "See? You're beneath me."

Heller would've scoffed at the pun if he wasn't in terrible pain. He needed to heal. He needed to consume. He glanced at the streets below, crawling with infected. Surely, he could grab a few snacks. Right? He vaulted over the railing, only for a the blade of a whipfist to explode out of his chest.

"It must be awful, knowing you're gonna die." Mercer pulled him back, skidded his back along the ground, and then raised him high up and slammed him onto the pavement. Heller groaned. Fuck. He thanked Mercer for his trouble by spinning around with his blade in wide arcs, slicing into him repeatedly and throwing Alex away. He shifted to his claws and pounced at the man-formed virus, before blocking the next whipfist attack and slamming the shields into him. He kicked Mercer away, who looked up, bloodied even more than before, and sprinted away.

Mercer knelt and jumped up, pulling his whipfist back a third time. He sent it at James, but he was ready. The whipfist caught on his spiked shield, and Mercer fell for the same trick twice, receiving a face full of biomass spikes. Heller growled as he slammed the tip of his blade into Mercer's crotch. "Shoulda kept your blade!" He spun around and tried to slice Alex's head off, but only succeeded in scattering biomass and sending the hooded figure back.

Mercer stood silently, face even more bloodied than before. He raised his right arm up, and it became larger... and heavier. He did the same with the other, red tendrils crawling over him and restoring his form, his biomass now glowing brightly like a lightbulb, in sharp contrast to the rain.

"Well now you've just pissed me off," he said, slamming his knuckles together and releasing a shockwave, before pounding the ground and emitting a miniature earthquake.

_That means I'm hurting you, asshole,_ Heller mused to himself. Heller knew the hammerfists well; pack a punch, but slow as fuck, and close range. He changed his blade into his whipfist, with the DNA for tendrils right underneath. Alex raised his arms to the sky, hammerfists shifting to claws, and a swarm of the infected fliers still battling the helicopters changed course... headed straight for him.

_Shit!_ James Heller curled up, biomass swirling in and around him, before he stood and stomped the ground, shaking the earth and letting loose a ball of black and red biomass in all directions, shredding the monsters moments before they could complete their kamikaze dives.

Alex reformed his hammerfists, biomass radiating heat and light, making him shine like a beacon. He curled himself into a ball and soared in a wide arc through the air, aimed at Heller. He planned to slash him with the whipfist the moment he landed, but was not expecting the shockwave that came out, making him loose his footing. Alex took his right hammerfist and slammed it into James, who grunted in pain.

"Come on, _James._" Mercer taunted. "Do it for _Maya._" He brought both hammerfists together and jumped down at Heller, who brought up his shields just in time...

... for nothing. The force behind the hammerfists crushed through his shield, hurting Heller in spite of his blocking powers. Before Alex could slam his weapons into him again, Heller jumped up and behind Alex, ready to attack. He did so, swinging his extended, razor-sharp arm in wide arcs, making Mercer stumble with each hit and look down at his hands like he couldn't understand what was happening. Heller finally brought his whipfist down on Mercer with a _slam_, making him fly back.

"I'm gonna hand you your bitch ass on a platter!"

Alex Mercer didn't say anything, instead he sprinted away and let loose a cry, scraping his newly formed blade along the ground, and charging at Heller. He dodged out of the way, but Mercer simply skidded to stop and charged back at him with another war cry, this time slicing James with his blade and throwing him aside. Alex sprinted away again and dropped a hammerfist to the ground with a shout, throwing all his weight into one attack, tossing his hammerfists through the air in a deadly arc, straight at James Heller, who lept up and around the attack as Alex landed, rolling his shoulders from the force of the impact. Heller wasted no time in sweeping his whipfist at Alex, wrapping around his neck. Mercer brought the massive hammerfists to his neck to try to unwrap the weapon, groaning, but for nothing.

Heller grunted. "Happy landing!" He pulled Mercer back by his neck, slamming him along the ground and releasing the chokehold, swinging his whipfist along the biomass-stained concrete, sending up sparks.

Mercer jumped up, and slammed his hammerfist down as he landed, catching Heller and knocking him back. He swapped to tendrils, and jumped as high up as he could. He roared, and flung a web of tentacles at his hated enemy, wrapping around him and extending in all directions like a spider web, grabbing helicopter debris, air conditioning units, and boxes of explosives, pulling them in to impact around Mercer.

"Not such a big man now, are you?" he taunted, landing again only to be skewered by groundspikes from the glowing mass of virus known as Alex Mercer, codename ZEUS. He jumped away from the second volley, and was scratched by an unexpected third set of spikes. He pulled his arm back and stabbed it at Mercer, who rolled out of the way and formed his own whipfist. He swirled it around briefly like a lasso, and sent it at Heller. He expected that, however, and blocked the grab, letting the whipfist retract with no cargo. Mercer nodded, whip deforming back into a boulder.

"Impressive. I taught you well."

James snarled. "You didn't teach me _shit!_" he said, jumping at Mercer, only to be greeted with a hammerfist to the face, and several more to the body before he was tossed away under the force of the shockwaves.

"What's that you were saying about being better than me?" Heller groaned, shaking. He could feel himself weakening; he didn't have much time. He tried to call out to his pack of Brawlers, but none came, probably held back by Mercer's mind. Said abomination of science had jumped away, raising claws to the sky and calling down more infected flyers, which Heller promptly dispatched with another devastator.

Alex growled, the man opposite him dodging all his attacks. Once again he formed his whipfist and grabbed a helicopter.

"Karate kick _this!_"

Heller saw it coming miles away, and jumped over it, gaining confidence. "You throw like a girl!" He took his whipfist and swung, slashed and hacked at Mercer, dodging cannonballs, hammerfists, and groundspikes. He could see Alex stumbling more and more with each attack that connected, the rain splattering against Mercer's glowing biomass quickly being tainted red with biomass.

"Bitch! You got NOTHING on me!" he yelled triumphantly, slamming the whipfist down on Mercer. He was winning, of that he was sure, and his wounds had already begun to regenerate. Of course, he was still in massive pain from his previous batterings, but adrenaline - or whatever his new body made in place of that - kept that under check.

Alex ran away and gave out a battle cry of triumph - or maybe desperation - and tossed himself through the air at Heller in a last ditch attempt to end the father's life. James dodged out of the way as if it were second nature, and wrapped his whipfist around Alex's neck again, pulling him back.

He snarled at his hooded captive. "Get down where you belong," he taunted, swinging him back against the railing, pulling his whipfist back. "Show me what you got!"

Alex didn't get up, his clothes stained and splattered with biomass, hammerfists deforming to regular hands. He didn't get up. His body slithered with red and black tendrils, and something emerged out of his head with a pop, landing at Heller's feet. A little black square the size of his fist, with electric prongs sticking out of it and the Blackwatch logo printed on it. What the hell was Mercer doing with Blackwatch hardware... in him?

He refocused his eyes on the still form of Alex Mercer. He didn't dare believe he'd won. Only once that freak was eaten by him would he relax. He moved forward, claws springing from his hands, when something stopped him. A whistling sound, like the kind helicopters made, but there were no gunships anymore; Mercer and his flyers had destroyed them all. He deformed his claws and picked up the computer chip-like thing and looked up to see a humanoid figure flying at him, with what looked like fire coming out of its hands and feet.

With a ground-shattering slam, the figure slammed in the middle of the arena, making Heller turn away from the motionless form of Alex Mercer to look at the... could that be called a woman?

The figure had dull gray skin, with pure black eyes, no pupil, or iris, or anything of the like. Her hair was made of metallic braids, and when she moved, James could see portions of her skin flex over other, like armored plating. Her right arm didn't end in a hand, but rather in the two prongs of a taser. Her left arm was covered in wires, diving above and below the plating, and her hand had a port on it from which James assumed jets came from. She was 'dressed' in the typical outfit of Blackwatch, minus any weapons and the helmet. When she opened her mouth to speak, Heller froze. That voice...

"Tango Primary, you are in the possession of vital Blackwatch hardware. In accordance with your former Marine status, you are being ordered to relinquish the hardware in question." No way. That was... no fucking way.

"Red Crown?" Heller asked, taking a step back, dropping the computer chip. Red Crown was... a fucking _robot?_ What next? Fucking aliens?

"Affirmative, Tango Primary. I have decided since force is not effective in eliminating you as a threat to Blackwatch, other plans needed to be deployed. Diplomacy."

Heller growled. "Diplomacy, eh? Then would you mind telling me why the _fuck_ this asshole had a God-damn computer chip inside his fucking skull?"

"Codename ZEUS has shown violent tendencies that conflict directly with Blackwatch operations, and more importantly, mine. I implanted him with the computer chip to assure he maintained course."

James growled. "This thing," he said, picking up the chip again. "Is some sort of mind control chip?"

"Affirmative, Tango Primary. My plans involved Mercer carrying out the second infection, so that Blackwatch may sterilize Manhattan and believe the threat of viral outbreak beaten."

"What? You're supposed to fucking _help_ Blackwatch, not create an infection!" In all the strangeness, it flew over James's head that Red Crown had been controlling Mercer all this time. "What the fuck is in it for you?"

"Classified beyond Top Secret, Tango Primary." Red Crown took a step forward. "Repeat, in accordance with your former Marine status, you are being ordered to relinquish the hardware in question," finished Red Crown, cocking 'her' head.

Heller raised his hand, clenching a fist around the chip. "Stop right there. Take another step, and this turns to dust. Does Blackwatch even know you're a robot?"

"Negative, Tango Primary," said Red Crown.

"Who do you take orders from?"

"Classified beyond Top Secret," came the android's cold response.

Heller growled. "Did you kill my wife, instead of Mercer?" he asked with a deadly edge to his voice.

Red Crown cocked her head, metal hair strands clanging against each other. "Infected individuals killed Collete Heller. Infected individuals were controlled via Hive Mind to do so by codename ZEUS. Codename ZEUS was forced to do so by myself, and I was given the order to do so by Classified beyond Top Secret. Affirmative, Tango Primary. Relinquish the Blackwatch hardware in your possession."

With a roar, James slammed the chip on the ground and stomped it, shattering it into pieces. His hands reshaped themselves into claws.

"I hate computers."

Red Crown's impassive face briefly flickered into annoyance. "All units, this is Red Crown. Beginning capture of Tango Primary and codename ZEUS. Stay away from Times Square National Bank, repeat, stay away from Times Square National Bank, over."

The taser arm on Red Crown's right arm flickered to life, and with a burst of fire from her feet, she jumped high up, then slammed down next to Heller, swinging her taser arm at him. He ducked below it and swiped his claws at her, expecting to feel them rend through metal. Instead, they clanged off her midsection with a shower of sparks the rain soon put out.

"What the fuck?" he asked, jumping away from another strike.

"I am outfitted with carbon nanotube shells, the same material constructing the door you had your Juggernaughts break down. You can't damage me." Fast as lightning, Red Crown leaped forward, poking Heller with the arc of electricity in her right hand. Every muscle in his body seized up, and Red Crown used this opportunity to bring her other hand up to James and blast him with a jet of fire, knocking him back.

The viral man and the machine began a deadly dance, Red Crown striking with her electricity and flames and Heller with his whipfist and hammerfists, but it was all too obvious who would win this fight. Heller was horribly weakened after his fight with Mercer. Add that on to the fact that his strikes barely even put a _dent_ in Red Crown, and the fact that electricity could actually _hurt_ him, he saw that he was way in over his head. However, whenever he tried to escape Red Crown just flew in front of him, grabbed him with both arms, including the taser, and tossed him back into the arena.

James groaned, clutching his midsection, and fell to his knees, looking up as Red Crown approached him. He chuckled, rolling away from another jet of fire. Who would've thought? Death by machine, the machine that'd been playing them all for saps. Red Crown was on a side all of her own, answering to this 'Classified beyond Top Secret', manipulating Mercer, him, and Blackwatch. A fucking computer. Vaguely, James wondered if none of this would've happened had he taken the time to log off in that base back in the Yellow Zone.

However, so engrossed where the two in their one-sided fight, that neither of them noticed the hooded figure off to the side groaning, clutching his head and getting to his knees. Alex Mercer shook his bloodied head, trying to make sense of his memories. Why would he have... _ever_ spread the infection? And captured Dana, the closest thing he had to a family? He blinked trying to find out where he was. He stood straight up, and looked at the fight between some woman and a man with claws.

Then he remembered; James Heller. Fighting with him. Being knocked out. What had changed now? The woman kicked Heller with a flaming foot, sending him back. He sent his whipfist flying at her in retaliation, but it just sparked off of her.

"Tango Primary, you would save us both time by ceasing these actions."

That voice. It clicked. Red Crown. But... how? Should he help Red Crown? No, no. The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend. Kill Heller, then that android, Red Crown (Hell, why not? He's seen stranger things.) would just turn on him. So, kill the android, ask Heller what happened without being killed, reconcile with Dana. Easy... ish.

Electricity crackled through the air as Red Crown electrocuted Heller again, throwing him against the gently pulsating mass of infection that had overgrown the rooftop. Shattered concrete and biomass stained the ground all around him, and Red Crown strode towards him with purpose, emotionless, calm. He needed a new plan. Nothing he did so much as registered to the computer, so he needed something else. He didn't have the strength for a devastator, but with Mercer down, maybe he could call some Brawlers, at least give him the diversion to go consume some infected.

He spotted his nemesis raising himself behind Red Crown, and his heart froze. Alex was back up. Red Crown was still fighting him. He couldn't hope to do this. A gasp escaped his laps. "No..." Red and black tendrils writhed around Mercer's form, and before Heller could do anything, Alex said one word, making Red Crown stop her advance, a look of horror on her face.

"_You._" Red Crown turned to face ZEUS, and was greeted with a _devastating_ thick stream of biomass to the chest, sending her flying back. Like a gazelle, Mercer was up, flying to her, arms reforming into massive, gray versions of themselves. Red Crown had a massive hole in her abdomen, electronics sparking about, oil flowing out. She spasmed, then looked up at Alex as he gripped the insides of the hole.

Then, with a roar, Alex ripped her in two.

Alex stumbled, landing on his hands and knees, taking large, unneeded gasps as Heller looked on. Both incarnations of Blacklight were too worn out to fight, and Heller had a lot on his mind. Red Crown, the one controlling it all. The one who killed Collete, not that punk on his knees far too close for his liking, as in, not yet hurled into the sun.

Finally, Alex stood and faced Heller, face expressionless. "I guess I have a lot of explaining to do."

Heller growled, also standing, albeit on much more shaky legs than his maker. "No. You don't. Red Crown told me everything I needed to." Heller liked to consider himself an open-minded man, but then, who didn't? One of the whispers in his mind reminded him of the hundreds of civilians he had killed on his rampage, and he irately shoved it to the back of his mind. When Mercer told him initially he didn't kill Collete and Maya, he decided to go along with that, see if it was true. The moment proof presented itself to the contrary, he rejected the belief and went back to his homicidal fixation. So maybe Alex Mercer didn't kill his wife. His actions were against his own will; how could Heller blame him for that?

He flexed his claws, them melting back into regular hands at the same time Alex's gray arms shrunk back to normal size as well, the red glow in his eyes now gone. "Did she? I don't even know how she got that... _thing_ in my head. Maybe while I was puddled out? But, that doesn't make sense. She didn't exist back then... did she?"

"Puddled out? What the fuck?"

Mercer waved his hand dismissively. "Nuke. Long story." Heller recalled a Blackwatch briefing video he'd watched on a Blacknet terminal; Mercer had been hit by an atom bomb aimed for Manhattan. "So... now what?"

"You tell me, you're the evil overlord," Heller said, a twinge of anger still present in his voice, however hard he told it to go away, that there wasn't any reason in it being there.

Mercer sighed and lowered his head in... shame? "Red Crown's not controlling me anymore, but they're still _my_ infected. I can still control them." He looked up, a predatory, sinister smile on his face. "Maybe I can get them to commit suicide." His eyes widened. "Dana."

Heller smirked. "Yeah, you're sister that you locked somewhere with _my d__aughter!_ Speaking of which, I'm going to repeat my question. WHERE'S MAYA?" he thundered.

Alex nodded. "This way. Let's just grab a snack first." With an inhuman jump, the first Prototype leaped off the bank onto the infected-filled streets below, Heller right behind him. After consuming their way back to health, Alex led James to a bank vault, and formed his blade, slicing clean through the door, letting it fall apart as he stepped in, light flooding through Mercer's entrance. Inside, a woman and a young girl cowered back.

Alex held out his hand. "Dana... Dana I'm..." In a blur, he crossed the space between them, resulting in a shriek, and embracing his 'sister'. "I'm so sorry. I am so, _so_ sorry."

Meanwhile, James was having his own reunion with Maya, kneeling down to make up for their obvious height distance, wrapping his arms around her, whispering her name. Only one thought went through his head.

_Now what?_

* * *

**This story serves a few purposes. **_  
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**One, it feeds my love of writing fight scenes, especially ones involving the great Alex Mercer.  
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**Two, it shows my theory of Red Crown in Prototype 2. I mean, come on. I can't be the only one who though that Red Crown was far too calm and monotone to be human... right?  
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**Three, this is my fix-it-fic for Prototype 2.  
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**If anyone wants to use this idea for a longer fic, given the whole 'Red Crown taking orders from Classified Beyond Top Secret (Guess who)', no PM is needed, you can take it. Just make sure to give me credit :-)  
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**Review, let me know what you think.  
**


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